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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

castigate.

To punish or reprimand someone severely.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/Received-Pronunciation, US/ˈkæs.tə.ɡeɪt/Received-Pronunciation, US
  1. To punish or reprimand someone severely.

    formal · transitive
  2. To execrate or condemn something in a harsh manner, especially by public criticism.

    formal · transitive
  3. To revise or make corrections to a publication.

    rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

First attested in the beginning of the 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin castīgātus, perfect passive participle of castīgō (“to reprove”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”). Doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.

adj/ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/Received-Pronunciation, US/ˈkæs.tə.ɡeɪt/Received-Pronunciation, US
  1. Subdued, chastened, moderated

    obsolete
  2. Revised and emended

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

First attested in the beginning of the 17ᵗʰ century; borrowed from Latin castīgātus, perfect passive participle of castīgō (“to reprove”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“to cut”). Doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.